Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Temp reading on a non-aerated SMB/YP pond

Sounds like you're still in pretty good shape as long as you've got good DO saturation. Luckily, at those temps, the water should be able to retain a very good DO level. You'll probably find temps in the deepest part of the pond are still much cooler, even down right cold.

When you get set up to check temps all the way down, take notes of the temps at each foot. That level where you see the greatest change in temp is (and it may only be 2 or 3 degrees change) where your "dead water" begins. Without getting too technical, your water column is basically divided into three sections. The surface and middle section are good water for your fish, from a DO/temp perspective. If you know how big the deepest area is, taking into account where that biggest change in temp occurs, you can subtract that area of water from the gross volume, telling you how much good water you have in the pond.

A pond without aeration, when stratified, ultimately deletes water that is useful to your fish, which also dictates what the pond's carrying capacity is. Hypothetically speaking, if the pond has 1 million gallons of water in it, but 250k of it is dead water, you only have 750k gallons of good water, thus reducing the pond's potential gross capacity.

Another thing to consider is that without DO in those greater depths, all of the detritus that settles in that area will become muck, because the useful bacteria that eat it cant survive down there without oxygen. That area will be the first to fill in as nature does what it does.